Mavericks, Beavers and ... Bigfoot?

I made it to Bemidiji. Look for the live blog in a big. If possible, I'll try to get a between-periods interview with Sasquatch.

Friday-morning skate

Good morning. Minnesota State is stepping out of WCHA play for the next month, although it will preview what's to come in the conference by playing future members Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha over the next two weeks.

In Bemidji tonight, the Mavericks will keep their top three lines and their defensive pairings the same as the last few series, but will mix up the fourth line -- Adam Mueller, Eli Zuck, Justin Jokinen -- and give Phil Cook his first career start in goal.

Despite being nonconference rivals, MSU and Bemidji seem to have more connections than a lot of teams do. Here are a few: Minnesota State's first-year assistant coach Todd Knott played his college hockey at Bemidji State, MSU coach Troy Jutting and BSU coach Tom Serratore were freshman-year roommates at Mankato State (Serratore eventually transferred to Bemidji), Beavers captain Chris McKelvie is the brother of former Mavericks assistant captain Ryan McKelvie.

And then there's MSU defenseman Channing Boe, a Bemidji native who has played many games at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse. The Bemidji Pioneer also got ahold of Boe this week.

As for the Beavers, they may be ranked fourth in the country and first in the Pairwise, but they believe they have a lot to prove against a future WCHA opponent this weekend. Here is the Pioneer's video preview of the series.

The rest of the WCHA is wrapping up the first half of the conference schedule this weekend.

St. Cloud State hosts Colorado College, and Huskies freshman goaltender Mike Lee is profiled in the St. Cloud Times. Meanwhile, Tigers freshman forward Rylan Schwartz is off to a great start despite some off-ice distractions that would be tough for any college student to handle.

In another matchup of ranked teams, defensemen are the focus of the stories as Denver will travel to Minnesota Duluth. The Denver Post takes a look at the Pioneers' low-profile but hard-hitting John Ryder, while the Duluth News-Tribune shows how the Bulldogs' Mike Montgomery has benefitted by switching from forward to defense.

Minnesota travels to Michigan Tech where a good weekend could leapfrog the Gophers over Minnesota State in the WCHA standings. The Huskies, meanwhile are struggling and beat up.

North Dakota hosts Wisconsin in a big series, but another big competition at the Ralph Englestad Arena is a table-tennis battle between Sioux seniors Darcy Zajac and Chris VandeVelde. Meanwhile, the Badgers are the only visiting WCHA team that has a winning record at the Ralph.

Be sure to check back with PucKato for a live blog during tonight's MSU-BSU game.

Time to Cook

Minnesota State freshman goaltender Phil Cook will get his first start in goal Friday night when the Mavericks play at Bemidji State. Cook was the backup to Austin Lee last Friday at Minnesota and was listed as the second goalie on Saturday in Mankato when all three goalies dressed.

Lee was outstanding a week ago in a 3-1 win over the Gophers but struggled the next night in a 6-2 loss before getting pulled in favor of Cook.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Cook has made two appearances, both in mop-up duty of blowout losses, but he has gotten high praise from both coaches and teammates for the way he has played in practice throughout the season.

Coach Troy Jutting said that Cook deserves a shot because of the way he's practiced but also because the Mavericks have not been getting consistent enough goaltending from Lee and Kevin Murdock so far this season.

Bemidji's new digs (updated)

Here's an additional video by The Bemidji Pioneer's Eric Stromgren. I talked to Mavericks defenseman Channing Boe, a Bemidji native, who told me that he did some work on the building over the summer while working for his family's excavation company.

Friday and Saturday will mark Minnesota State's final games at Bemidji State's John S. Glas Fieldhouse. Next season, when the Beavers join the WCHA, they will move into the Bemidji Regional Events Center, which is currently being constructed.

The Mavericks will not play at the new arena next season. Bemidji State released its first WCHA season schedule earlier this year and will travel to Mankato for the teams' only meeting of the season.

Halfway point

Minnesota State will begin a stretch of six games over the next four weeks against nonconference opponents (although Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha will be in the WCHA next season). The Mavericks might be doing some scoreboard watching this weekend, though as eight WCHA teams wrap up the first half of the league schedule.

The Mavericks finished their first half on Saturday and are 5-8-1 and in seventh place in the standings with 11 points. Ninth-place Alaska-Anchorage is the only other WCHA team that has played 14 games so far.

A year ago, MSU was 5-7-2 (12 points) at the WCHA's midway point and finished the season in eighth. A year earlier, they were 3-6-3 (nine) and ended up in a tie for fourth. One year before that, they were 4-8-2 (10) and took eighth.

Gophers 6, Mavericks 2

Minnesota turned the tables on the Mavericks Saturday night, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and winning 6-2. Tyler Pitlick scored two goals for the Mavericks, who seemed quite frustrated after the game, especially with the inconsistence from Friday's 3-1 victory on the road to a loss in front of more than 5,000 people in their home rink.

Read more here.

MSU vs. Minny, Game 2 live blog

Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE

Irwin-Harrison-Thompson

Mouillierat-Stewart-Hayes

Louwerse-Galiardi-Pitlick

Mueller-Gaulrapp-Jokinen

Youds-Elbrecht

Boe-Davis

Canzanello-Cooper

Lee

Cook

Murdock

MINNESOTA

Lucia-Schroeder-Hansen

Hoeffel-Carman-Sacchetti

Birkholz-White-Budish

Larson-Matson-Flynn

Leddy-Fischer

Ness-Fairchild

Wehrs-Schack

Kangas

Patterson